Two of a Kind #03: The Sleepover Secret

HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Chapter One

"I just have one question," Mary-Kate Burke said. She unwrapped her peanut butter sandwich in the school lunchroom. "Why do they call them sleepovers if nobody ever sleeps?"

Her twin sister, Ashley, ignored her. She was busy studying the list for her first sleepover of the school year.

"I stayed up all night at a sleepover once," their friend Amanda groaned. "The next day I was so tired, I brushed my teeth with sunbiock!"

"Gross!" Ashley said. She ran her finger down the list and read the names out loud: "Darcy... Melanie... Rachel... Amanda..."

"Hey!" Max leaned over the table and stared at the list. "Where's my name?"

"And what about mine?" another friend, Brian, asked.

Ashley looked at Max and Brian and shook her head. Why did she have to go through this every year?

"Guys," Ashley said. "You just don't get it, do you?"

Max took a long, loud slurp of his chocolate milk. Then he burped. "Get what?"

"You're boys," Mary-Kate pointed out. "If boys came to sleepovers there'd be nobody to trash!"

Max and Brian looked at each other and shrugged.

"No problem," Brian said coolly. "Because we guys just happen to have our own sleepovers, right, Max?"

"Yeah!" Max said. "We pitch tents in the backyard, and see who can shove the most raisins up his nose."

Brian nodded. "Then we eat a load of barbecue chips and see who hurls first."

"Why am I not surprised?" Ashley groaned.

Mary-Kate took a sip of apple juice. "If I were you, I wouldn't worry. Knowing Ashley, you aren't the guys we'll be talking about at this sleepover."

"Oh, yeah?" Brian asked through a mouthful of pretzels. "Why not?"

Max slapped his forehead with the back of his hand. "Don't tell me -- Ashley likes someone!"

Ashley shot Mary-Kate a look of warning.

"Mary-Kate," she whispered. "You better keep a lid on it ... or else!"

"Okay, okay," Mary-Kate said. She turned to Amanda, Max, and Brian. "But I'll give you a little hint. To figure out who Ashley likes this week, just put two and two together."

"Two and two together?" Max repeated.

"What is this, some kind of math problem?" Brian asked.

"Math?" Amanda exclaimed, jumping up. "I know! I know!"

"Mary-Kate's math tutor -- Taylor Donovan!" Amanda, Max, and Brian announced together.

"Arrrgh!" Ashley groaned. Thanks to her sister, the secret was out!

Ashley was just about to change the subject, when she heard the sound of giggles from across the lunchroom. She looked up and saw Jennifer Dilber and her friends sitting down at their own table -- the cool table!

"Quick, Mary-Kate," Ashley whispered. She stuffed her peanut butter and jelly sandwich back in her lunch bag. Then she straightened her already neat purple cardigan over her black skirt. "Hide your sandwich before Jennifer and her friends see it."

"Why?" Mary-Kate asked.

"Because peanut butter is so... so kindergarten!" Ashley explained.

"No, it isn't!" Mary-Kate replied. She held her sandwich up in front of Ashley's face. "I like peanut butter. Besides, it's all Dad knows how to make without destroying the kitchen,"

"Shhh," Ashley warned. "Jennifer might hear you."

Amanda wrinkled her nose. "What's so special about snooty Jennifer Dilber and her friends, anyway?" she asked.

"What's so special?" Ashley repeated. "Let me count the ways. . . ."

Everyone watched as Ashley tapped her fingertips.

"They have the coolest clothes. They get invited to the best parties ... oh yeah, and they wear different colored rubber bands on their braces!"

"But can any of them throw a knuckleball?" MaryKate asked. She leaned over the table and gave Max a high-five.

Ashley shook her head at Mary-Kate and glanced back at Jennifer and her friends. She sighed.

"Look at them," she said. "They're all eating salads out of little plastic bowls. With real salad dressing. That's pretty classy."

"You think so?" Mary-Kate said. "I bet deep inside they're all dying for a deluxe cheeseburger with fries!"

"Right on!" Max said with a grin.

"Ashley, if you think Jennifer is so great, why don't you invite her to your sleepover?" Mary-Kate asked.

Ashley gasped. "Are you serious?" Inviting Jennifer Dilber to her sleepover would be like inviting Madonna!

"Mary-Kate," Ashley said, "Jennifer wouldn't come to my sleepover in a million years. She and her friends don't even know I exist.

"Oh, yeah?" Mary-Kate snatched a grape from Amanda's sandwich bag. She grinned as she carefully aimed it toward Jennifer's table. "They will now!"

Ashley jumped up. "Mary-Kate! You wouldn't!" she pleaded.

Mary-Kate flicked the grape into the air. It soared through the lunchroom until it landed -- right in the middle of the cool table!

Ashley held her breath as the grape rolled off the table into Jennifer's lap.

"Yes!" Mary-Kate cried. "A perfect pitch!"

"You go, girl!" Max cheered.

Jennifer and her friends turned and glared at them. Ashley groaned. How could her sister do this to her?

"Here she comes," Brian declared as Jennifer stood up and walked toward them.

"And she looks maaa-aaad!" Max said.

Jennifer held the grape between her index finger and thumb.

"Does this belong to anyone?" she asked as she flicked the grape on the table.

"It does! Thanks, Jennifer!" Ashley grabbed the grape and stuffed it into Mary-Kate's mouth. "Slippery little rascal!"

"MMMMPH!" Mary-Kate gulped.

Jennifer folded her arms and wrinkled up her nose. "Is that peanut butter I smell?" she asked.

"Peanut butter?" Ashley cried. She threw back her head and laughed. "No way. It's a special peanut sauce that I like to pour over my... urn -- "

"Jelly," Mary-Kate filled in.

Ashley kicked Mary-Kate under the table. Then she saw Jennifer reach for her sleepover list.

"What's this?" Jennifer asked, raising one eyebrow. "A sleepover party?"

Ashley held her breath as Jennifer looked up and down the list.

"There isn't a sleepover in Chicago that I'm not invited to," Jennifer said, still studying the paper.

Ashley's heart skipped a beat.

"Oh, you wouldn't want to come to my sleepover, Jennifer," she said, trying to sound casual.

Excerpted from Two of a Kind #03: The Sleepover Secretby Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen Copyright © 2006 by Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.